There are things most of us take for granted each day; having easy access to a meal or grocery store, heat on a winter day and AC on a summer day, and having access to healthcare just to name a few. Sadly, there are thousands of people in Wake County that have to make extremely difficult choices everyday. Most of us will never understand how difficult it is to choose between feeding your children dinner or paying rent. More than 130,000 Wake County residents do not know if they will be able to get their next meal. 90,000 residents can’t see a doctor or get life saving medication because they are not able to afford insurance. Over 1,000 people sleep on the streets of Raleigh each night. Many of these people without homes are women who are at increased risk of violence and sexual assault.
If you know where your next meal is coming from, if you have access to healthcare, if you have a warm place to sleep at night, I ask you to try to imagine how difficult it would be if you did not have any one of those things. Imagine walking over a mile to and from a food pantry in order to feed your family. Imagine being sick, or in need of medicine and not being able to see a doctor. Imagine being evicted from your home because you decided to feed your children. We may never completely understand the hardship that many people face, but we can help alleviate some of the difficult decisions faced by those in our community. It is heartbreaking that people in our community go without food, shelter or medicine every day when we are so able to do something to help.
By donating to Urban Ministries through Enloe Charity Ball, you not only provide funds to feed the hungry, house the homeless and provide healthcare to those who would not otherwise have access to healthcare, but you bring these issues to the public eye. Seeing a group of kids raise $120,000 brings a lot of attention to the issues we are trying to alleviate. Each year more and more people notice the kids from Enloe doing big things. We are getting the problems our community faces and putting them into the spotlight. This is why there is no limit to what we can achieve. For twelve years straight ECB has smashed all records, goals and expectations, there is no reason why we won’t do it again this year and for many, many years to come.
Please donate today https://charityball.webconnex.com/cb2016
Ben Hogewood
Executive Council Historian